Gaddis

E-Honora: GRAWA’s Electronic Newsletter

Sheila Gaddis To Co-Chair NYSBA Pro Bono Network

The New York State Bar Association's Pro Bono Coordinators Network recently named new co-chairs: Sheila A. Gaddis and Elizabeth M. Guggenheimer. The Pro Bono Coordinators Network, started in 1985, is a statewide group of approximately 100 pro bono professionals who plan and coordinate efforts to expand free legal services to poor and disadvantaged New Yorkers.

Gaddis, executive director of the Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County succeeds Susan Patnode of the Rural Law Center in Plattsburgh. Each year, the Network selects its chairpersons through an internal selection process that includes informal polling of members. Traditionally, one co-chair is from NYC (Guggenheimer) and one from outside NYC.

“I am especially gratified that this august group of professionals asked me to co-chair the Network with Elizabeth Guggenheimer, the legal director of Lawyers Alliance for New York ,” said Gaddis. “Our goals for the year include the Network's continued support and encouragement of OCA's effort to encourage partnerships between pro bono attorneys, pro bono programs and the courts.”

“We are thrilled to have someone of Sheila's character and quality leading the Network this year,” said Cynthia Feathers, director of the NYSBA Department of Pro Bono Affairs. “In her three years in our state, she has won the respect of the equal justice community and has demonstrated her ability to build alliances and creatively expand pro bono services.”

Gaddis came to Rochester in June 2002 to assume leadership of VLSP, a program that provides free legal help to low-income residents facing non-criminal legal problems. VLSP's services are provided by some 700 private attorneys who donate their time and talent to help ensure equal access to justice.

“VLSP's program is highly regarded statewide by members of the Network for its private bar support and innovative client services,” Gaddis noted. “I look forward to sharing ideas, and meeting funding and service delivery challenges with the members of the Network.”

She went on to explain that Network members are being encouraged to take an active role in the Office of Court Administration's local pro bono committees, which are being established along judicial district lines. Seventh Judicial District Administrative Judge Thomas Van Strydonck is formulating a committee for this district.

Gaddis explained that another priority for the Network is to ensure the legal community has a complete understanding of the new pro bono definition, recently adopted by the NYSBA House of Delegates.

A 1981 graduate of Seton Hall Law School , Gaddis began her legal career as an associate at the former Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin & Ballon law firm, focusing on immigration law. She then served as executive director of the Alaska Youth and Parent Foundation in Anchorage , Alaska for 20 years. The Foundation provided services in juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health and the homeless services sectors.

In addition to her participation in GRAWA, she on the board of the Rochester Black Bar Association and Alternatives for Battered Women.

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